Doux

twee (two)

Wilder's POV

"Wha-oh. Oh, I'm Danaë!" She climbs down from my fence. The hand not holding a little puppy was out in front of me.

"I'm Wilder," I respond as I shake her tiny hand. My huge one covered hers like a black hole.

She flips my hand over staring at the tattoos that covered it. She stares at it so seriously. Her tongue pokes out of her lips a little as she inspects my hand. It was as if she's never seen a tattoo before.

"What are these drawings on your hand mister?" she looks up at me through her lashes. 'Damn'

"They're tattoos sweetheart, and I have more than just the ones on my hands," I whisper the last part like it was a super-secret thing that no one else could know. Her eyes light up so quickly I thought she would explode. Her puppy started wiggling around in her arms so she set him down. He walks over to me and sniffs at my boots.

"That's Milo. He's my new puppy, mommy got him for me as a birthday present!" She giggles as I pet his head.

"Birthday, huh? How old are you now little one?" I ask her as I kneel to get closer to her height. She must be under 5 feet to be this short. I practically tower over her, I'm at least 6'8.

"Oh, oh I'm 19, mister!" She hurries out excitedly. She has so much energy.

"How did you get here little one?" I ask looking around trying to find where she came from.

"I live out here, but Milo wanted to run in the meadow and I think we got lost." She gets quieter as she probably just realized how lost she was. She starts sniffling. Shit, I think she's crying. I sit down on the grass and pull her down into my lap.

"Hey, hey don't cry little one. I'll help you find your house." I rub her back as she straddles me. 'Damn I did not think that through.' "Ahem, uh let's go look for your house now, little one." I stand up and pull her with me. I wait until she situated her dress to look back down. Milo took this time to realize we were standing up. He prances over to her and sat down in front of us. I picked him up and held my hand out for her.

"I-um think it was this way." She points towards the flower-filled meadow to our left. We start walking towards it hand in hand. She swings our arms as we walk, her short legs can barely keep up with me. I sigh and set Milo down.

"Little one, can you grab Milo and hold on tight to him?" she nods and does what she's told. I wait until she picks him up to sweep my hands under her knees and neck before picking her up. She squeals as I situate her in my arms.

"How old are you mister?" she asks as I walk towards the meadow.

"First, little one there is no need to call me mister, and second, I'm 25," I tell her as I step through the shrubbery. Just past the meadow, I could see the outline of a quaint little cottage. "Is that it little one?" I nod my head towards it. She wiggles excitedly, so I carefully let her own. She put Milo down on the ground and they both start in a sprint. I laugh and shake my head.
"Mom! Where are you?" I hear her scream when she reaches the house. A small woman opens the door as I make my way over to Danaë.

"Mijn liefste, waar was je? Ben je oke? Ben je gewond?" her mother cries out as she runs towards her. 'My love, where were you? Are you okay? Are you hurt?'

"Mama, ik ben oké, maak je geen zorgen. Deze aardige man hielp me thuis te komen." she replies, pointing towards me at the end. 'Mama I'm ok, don't worry. This nice man helped me get home.'

"Oh thank you! Thank you for bringing my daughter home!" Her mom runs over towards me, hugging me. I tense but slowly reach my arms around her. She lets go, and I see Danaë smiling behind her. "Kleine meid, come here." Her mom motions her over. 'babygirl'

"Mama, what do you need?" Danaë asks, walking towards us. She squeezes under my arm, putting it over her shoulder.

"Why don't you show this nice man-" Her mom starts, pausing at the end.

"Oh uh, Wilder ma'am," I answer when I realize she doesn't know my name.

"Right, Wilder. Why don't you show Wilder around the house, while I make dinner."

"I don't need to stay and interrupt ma'am." I nervously reply, scratching the back of my neck.

"Nonsense, you brought my daughter back. You're staying for dinner young man." She practically commands me to stay.

Danaë pulls my arm towards the house, Milo right on our tail.

"Woah, Woah slow down little one." I stop moving, forcing her to stop as well

"But I want to show you my room!" She pouts, stamping her foot on the ground for extra emphasis.

"I know, but we have time. I don't want you to get hurt." I slowly start walking, with her next to me. The only problem is that Danaë wasn't walking. "What's wrong little one?"

"You're mad at me, I'm waiting for my punishment." She states, looking at her feet. She said it so innocently it was like she didn't realize the ominous meaning behind it.

"Please don't ever say that." I grab her face in my hands, but she flinches a little. "I would never hurt you, my love," I whisper, trying to prove my point. She blushes at the endearment.

"You promise?" she sticks out her pinky finger.

"I do, little one, and I never break my promises." I wrap my giant pinky around hers and kiss the two of them. She, of course, blushes again.

"Uh, let's go, I want to show you my room." She quickly runs into the house. I just watch her and laugh. After a minute or so, I follow her. She's waiting inside by the door. She grabs my hand again and this time she slowly pulls me up the stairs. She happily hops up the stairs, still making sure to go up them one by one. When we make it to the top of the stairs she stops so abruptly that I almost run into her.

"Little one, why did you stop?" I ask as I turn her to face me.

"I-uh-uh-um, on second thought maybe I shouldn't show you my room." She responds, trying to push past me. I stop her with my arms and hold her steady.

"Danaë, why don't you want to show me your room?" She fiddles with her hands and avoids eye contact with me.

"It's too baby-ish, you'll think I'm a little girl." Her voice is softer and she somewhat mumbles the last words.

"Baby, I don't care what your room looks like, and I don't think you're a little girl. Please never be embarrassed to show me something." I hold her rosy cheeks in my hands, which look so much larger than her face. She blushes, adding more of a rosy hue to her cheeks. 'My new favorite color.'

She sighs and grabs onto my arm again, pulling me towards a door decorated with flowers.

"This is uh- my room." She whispers, waving her hand around.

AN: I'm so sorry it took me this long to write this chapter. I have had some family things going on and I have horrible ADHD so it gets really hard to stay on track sometimes. I'm gonna try and write more though. This book means a lot to me so if you like it would you maybe please share it with people you think would like it? All my love, Aresius.